An Honest Peek into My Pantry & Fridge (*gulp*)

by Mama Chocolate on August 8, 2012

After seeing some of the other bloggers’ posts in this carnival and how bashful they were about sharing their “messy” fridges and pantries, I decided I could be an encouragement to them by showing how bad it actually can get.

Trisha at Mom Dot started us off by “showing her underwear” with this carnival topic:

Share your fridge and pantry…AS IS.

*gulp*

No straightening or hiding before the photo shoot. Do you know how hard this is for me?!

It’s actually a little tidier this time. Plus there is homemade blueberry pie in there, and that covers a multitude of sins.

The biggest thing that screams out at me looking at that picture:

GIVE THIS WOMAN A NEW FRIDGE.

Ugh. This thing is decades old and falling apart, quite literally.

Here’s where it gets really grim:

And that’s after I pulled out a bunch of miscellaneous, expired gunk just a week or two ago. Somehow I can’t seem to keep this cupboard area organized. Someday, I will find a method that works, (Pinterest shall not fail me!)

*note that Mama’s secret stash of Nutella is set up well out of reach and sight of small children. I don’t share.

This is our bigger “pantry” area, a big shelf thing that John built for me, containing what most of you would keep in a garage, which we are sadly without:

Check out the jars of home-canned beef stew…one of my favorite pre-baby projects! We have around 50 quarts of it this year, and it’s going to come in super handy along with all my freezer meals this fall as I spend less time in the kitchen and more time snuggling a tiny person.

Feel free! I’m going to be showing my husband some of the other fridges linked up on this carnival so he realizes that mine isn’t SO far from “normal.” LOL!Mama Chocolate recently posted..An Honest Peek into My Pantry & Fridge (*gulp*)

An easy temporary fix to the pantry would be to put a full front to back shelf in each cupboard and then get rubbermaid type tubs/bins for each shelf. Then you can get to the back of the cupboard by simply pulling out the bin, and when you open the doors it looks all neat cause you can only see the bins. Label the fronts to keep it organized. This has worked really well for me! It also helps keep odd shaped stuff and things in bags like pasta, beans, and bulk bin goodies contained. My categories include baking (sugars, sprinkles, coconut, etc) pasta, lunch items etc. It sure made it easier to move my pantry twice in 2 months too!

Oh, I like to can stuff too, but I don’t keep anything in the garage. I guess I didn’t grow up with a garage so I never think to store food stuff or anything out there.maryann at Matthew’s Puzzle recently posted..Get To Know How I Eat

I love the photo with the heart around the Nutella! I am so bad with that stuff, if I have it around, I just eat the whole jar – LOL. Anyway, I don’t think your cupboards look bad! I guess it’s one of those things, we always judge our own areas more harshly. I think everyone else in the link-up have great kitchens while mine looks like a hot mess, LOL.Beeb Ashcroft recently posted..Vandalism Update

“pinterest shall not fail me”…. I can relate to that so much. I have said to my husband numerous times, don’t worry dear, I have pinned something that will take care of that….. as soon as I get around to it…lol .thanks for being brave and sharing with us.